pessimists. this is good news august here on this show. all right. thank you all. that's it for this week's show. thanks to my panel. especially to you for watching. i'm paul gigot. i hope to see you here next week. on fox news watch. >> are you confident that you know everything that's going on within this agency and you can say to the american people it is all done the right way? >> yes, but what i have also said is that it can only work if the american people trust what's going on. >> mr. obama trying to convince us that nsa's spying the for our own good. as more details surface about the excessive effort should we be concerned? are the media concerned? >> conflictses in the middle east continue to heat up. chemical attacks in syria. killing more than a thousand. the situation raising questions about our president's position. is the press pushing for action?

violence against christians on the rise in that region. their plight being ignored by most in the media. murder after white college student by three bored teens in oklahoma. ignites more debate about race and crime. but this time the mainstream media don't seem to be interested. >> welcome, everyone. >> al jazeera america makes its debut. will americans buy what they are selling? if dark clouds are bothering your white house, why not bring in something sunny? >> on the panel this week, writer and fox news contributor judy miller. syndicated columnist cal thompson. jim pinkerton. daily beast columnist kearse ton powers. fox news contributor richard grinnell. "fox news watch" is on right now.

>> we can and must be more transparent. so i directed the intelligence community to make public as much information about these programs as possible. all these steps are designed to ensure that the american people can trust their efforts are in line with our interests and our values. to others around the world i want to make clear once again that america is not interested in spying on ordinary people. intelligence is focused, above all, on finding the information that's necessary to protect our people and in many cases protect our allies. >> that was the president earlier this month trying to convince americans his administration is doing all it can to be transparent in regard to the nsa collection of data. this week, a 2011 declassified report was released. it shows that the agency scooped up as many as 56,000 e-mails and other communications from americans with no connection to terrorism. the report also included the opinions from the then chief judge of the foreign

intelligence surveillance court. judge john bates writing -- for first time, the government has now advised the court the volume and nature of the nothings it has been collecting is fundamentally different from what the court had been led to believe. media reaction to all of the new details about the nsa's spying has been mixed. all show some in the press are beginning to turn up the heat. questioning what the president and his administration are telling us. jeff jarvis writes -- the punch line of the snowden affair when we can't trust what government tells us we come to trust those who government doesn't trust. thus we no longer necessarily care what the official line is. and who delivers it. when that happens, access, currency of the beltway becomes worthless. the irony. jim, this report was out. prepared, i should say, before the president made those comments and before the president made some changes to the way the nsa operates.

>> right. >> should we trust everything now -- >> the old joke, we are here for the boston and here -- to help you, protect you, it is -- look, peggy noonan wrote a terrific column on friday in which she said the net result of this is to turn americans into, quote, solemnly paranoid and fatalism -- no, i think they may be angry as well. look, this -- if i were the president i would stop making statements that seem to be undercut by his own actions a week or two later. >> what about the mainstream media coverage? it seems to have sort of -- dismissed this scandal? >> i don't think it did. i think "the wall street journal" and "the new york times" stories on the nsa ruling that -- you know, 2011 ruling, that we were just talking about, really raises some profound questions about whether or not these are just kind of accidental whoopses in the system or there was a policy which was unconstitutional. i don't -- i don't think that that means -- i think that indicates the media are finally taking this story very

seriously. and that the -- trust me is being replaced by the -- trust but verified mantra of president reagan. media should be upset rick, we have been told that this is all supervised by the fisa court, foreign intelligence surveillance act court. but the chief judge at the time said hey, they were pulling the wool over our eyes here. >> yeah. there has been problems all the way around. you will notice the u.s. media really is beginning to say that this is about the u.s. government or our government. really they are not fingering obama on this. however, there is a piece in the atlantic this week by philip and points out that president obama's independent review board is not independent at all. and i think what we are see thing week is a real unraveling where the media are only beginning to say this is obama's fault, not just the u.s. government or the government. >> then there was sort of a side media store dwli week.

glen greenwald, the reporter along with edward snowden, broke the story of the nsa surveillance. his partner, david miranda, was detained by british officials for nine hours on a -- terrorism charge of some sort. some of his personal property was seized. any reaction from the media? >> well, i mean, i think will is -- everybody pretty

>> the reaction was interesting. he says, i will be far more aggressive in my reporting from now on i'm going to publish many more domments and publish things on england too. i think they will be sorry for what they did. is that what a journalist is supposed to do? >> yes and no. international herald tribune had a front page story about this and interviewed the editor of the guardian and made a verial i had point. he said -- our -- laws in -- britain are different than american laws regarding journalists. as -- kearse ton said, interrogated this guy, his partner, for nine hours. this is just amazing. i mean, where do you go from there? >> the -- interesting question is what -- connection this had back to the u.s. government. i mean, not been a lot of energetic reporting on whether -- how far in advance they knew about this. whether the white house -- white house said we knew about it.

got a heads-up. that's not the wait works in this intel business. >> under british law, they can hold someone for nine hours. what they -- brits said was that mr. miranda was carrying stolen information. they were holding him under the terrorism act. we can quibble about whether that was the proper vehicle, law, to hold him under but he was acting as glen greenwald's mule is what the government alleged and that argument wasn't made or heard well in the influence jeffrey toobin of cnn, verbatim. >> absolutely. i don't think -- i mean, his partner also works with him in the -- on his journalism. i think he has the same -- >> well, that's -- >> i think that's a poor argument because glean greenwald gave this information to a nonjournalist. i don't care if they were married or if they are partners.

you completely give up your ability to say -- if he is working with glen -- it is not. >> what do you mean working with? that doesn't make sense how does it not make sense? if you are working with somebody on a journalism story they are working in journalism. >> we get to another quick topic. there was so much mayhem in the middle east. lost among the calfrage, it seems, is the backlash, blow-back against christians in the middle east resulting from all of the trouble will. >> i wrote a column for "usa today" this week on that very subject. i think one of the reasons, there are several, but the so-called christian community is not really a community. divided by denominations and within denominations will are splits. there's no singular focus. the pope could speak out about it. he did reluctantly. though not forcefully. certainly president obama, who says he's a christian, ought to be speaking out about it, too.

so far remained silent. >> u.n. security council, emergency session, on thursday. to talk about what may be a gas attack against syrian civilians. ambassador was not will. you wrote a column critical of her for not being there. tell us about in a. >> i think it is fine if we have ambassadors who have to go on vacation especially in august. the simple fact is that the entire u.s. policy is about the u.n. that's what we are doing. and when you have the -- the head ambassador not only not showing up, but the deputy that she centcom pleatly being silent and allowing the british on speak porous, i think that -- it means that the americans and -- our representatives at the u.s. -- u.n., are completely silenced and sidelined. >> plenty more to cover coming up, including the tragic murder of a white college athlete and how the media had reported that crime. >> a thrill kill murder of a

white college student by three bored teens in oklahoma, more debate about race and crime. compared to the trayvon martin shooting the media outrage is os missing.enture c why? answers next on "news watch."y n . you must be garth's father? hello. mother. mother! traveling is easy with the venture card because you can fly any airline anytime. two words. double miles! this guy can act. wanna play dodge rock? oh, you guys! and with double miles you can actuay use, you never miss the fun. beard growing contest and go! ♪ win! what's in your wallet? coffee should come in one size: mug. stay grounded with the rich, bold taste of maxwell house coffee. always good to the last drop.

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there has been more outrage in the mainstream media, more attention paid in the mainstream media, to that stupid clown story at the missouri state fair than there has been to this wonton murder in oklahoma. >> commenting on the murder of christopher lane, 22-year-old college student athlete from australia, attending cole negligent oklahoma. hoping to make it into the big leagues. lane was out running when he was shot in the back. the victim, police say, of a thrill kill. one of the teens -- there were

three of them involved here. police say. would black, one white. they were arrested for the crime. the two black teens, james francis edwards jr. and 16-year-old allen lewin a were charged with first-degree murder. the white teen, 17-year-old michael jones, charged with the use of a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon and accessory to murder after the fact. one of the kids apparently, jim, admitted they were bored and wanted to kill just for the fun of it. christopher lane was unarmed. the shooter was black. should the media be reacting in this case like they did in the trayvon martin case? >> it is a spectacular and horrible case. that's for sure. "the new york times" covered it with charges and fatal shooting in oklahoma. that was their story. if you wonder other news outlets that cover the stories like the drudge report, world net daily, have so much energy and -- attention is because they cover

stories the mainstream media clearly don't want to cover. >> was there overreaction in the trayvon martin case? underreaction here? >> there was originally underreaction until the social media got on to the trayvon martin case. kirsten than pointed out earlier in the week in this case that the -- alleged perpetrators were immediately arrested unlike trayvon martin. when the white house's spokesman has never heard of christopher lane and he's an australian, i mean, i think that there is a double standard here. i think that the media -- ed henry was right at pox news which is covering this murder, was trite ask the question. find it appalling the white house spokesman didn't know about it. >> the activist, like al sharpton, were all over the trayvon martin case. in this case, jesse jackson finally sent out a tweet and said praying for the family of chris lane. senseless violence is frowned upon. and the justice system must

prevail. now, apparently, that was not perceived as strong enough. he sent out something stronger later on. >> i'm not really sure why he -- you know, expect jesse jackson to comment on every single heinous crime that happens in the country. do people not understand this? i don't -- the trayvon martin situation was because there was an unarmed black teenager who was killed and nobody was arrested. that's why it became a story. as judy said, nobody was covering it. social media blew up around it. and that's how it became a story. occasionally we have things that get bigger than they should be. maybe it did get bigger than it should be. this is a tragedy what happened to chris lane. but i don't know dar why you expect jesse jackson or the president to talk about it. my final point is, i seem to remember some people saying we should not have been covering trayvon martin. if we shouldn't have been covering trayvon martin, why should we be cover thing? >> we are getting ready, cal,

for the 50th anniversary of the i have a dream speech in washington. what kind of coverage should we expect? >> i hate to date myself but i was there for that peach. as a young -- nbc news. it was turning point in my life and many other lives. it was one of the greatest orations if not greatest, orations of all time. i think that it deserves coverage. part of the media narrative. back to this chris lane business. the reason i think primarily it is not being covered the way, in my judgment, it should be, it doesn't fit the media narrative. white people are oppressive, they used to own slaves. look at all the horrible things the civil rights movement, never mind they were southern democrats standing in the schoolhouse dorm. >> conservative -- >> one of the suspects, rick, sent out a tweet, you know, prior to the killing, 90% of white people are nasty #hate them. the guy is now under arrest.

>> i think the whole idea the trayvon martin case and this case is about race is really shameful. it is not about race. it is really about young kids who are uneducated, come from broken homes and spiral into drugs and violence. that's the theme here. whether it is black or white or hispanic, we as a society need to confront that and it is shameful for people like piers morgan to immediately go after this story as a handgun story or anyone to use this as a race story. neither one of them are true. it is a social economics story. >> there is more ahead including this on a cable news channel in america. are you watching? reinforced with scratch- resistant glass and a unibody made kevlar strong.

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the first ever news hour from al jazeera. america, welcome everyone. >> well, al jazeera america is up and running. the new cable news channel available to american viewers as of tuesday, owned and funded by the oil rich persian gulf state of qatar and sister network to al jazeera. so, jim, some people used to call al jazeera jihad tv. how is al jazeera america doing? >> it was hilarious to see them giving americans their first lectures on how we should reduce oil production here and energy production here in america. you know, it might make you think they were trying to give the advantage to the home team on energy production. look. it's an arab tv channel, period. >> they claim you need to have unbiased, fact-based, in-depth stories. do they? >> we shall see. it's not clear yet. they didn't get off to a great start by having someone who was attacked by conservatives as being a kind of jewish -- that

wasn't a great way to start. we need something like that. we need a voice like that. they have a right to a cable station. if they're hiring americans who are being fired from american networks, go ahead. let's see if they get any ratings. >> any questions, rick, in your mind, about their funding or maybe their agenda? >> well, i think you have to remember that this is funded by qatar, a country where women have to be given permission by their husbands to drive or leave the country, so i haven't seen them require soledad o'brien to wear a novia yet but we'll see how they shake out. they'll have to work through the current tv viewers all left and the al jazeera america viewers who are going to be pro arab. i think they'll take several months to figure out who they are. >> kirsten? >> look. everybody, i think pretty much everybody has a bias in the world today and it's safe to say that they have a bias. the question is, what is it? i think a lot of people think it is pro terrorist and i'm not sure that is exactly right.

i think they just have their own interests in the region and that they, a lot of people liked their coverage on egypt though a lot of people i know in egypt thought it was extremely biased and they were sort of enjoying watching egypt, you know, go up in flames. so there is a bias but we have to wait and see how the american journalists -- >> i am amused by the contrast with the koch brothers who are apparently now going to give up their pursuit of the tribune newspapers and the criticism of them that they had an agenda, whereas al jazeera doesn't have an agenda? i don't think so. >> all right. up next on "news watch" a story the main stream media could not ignore. are end ss ways to love it... from crispy to spicy to savory. [ man ] you cannot make a bad choice. [ male announcer ] red lobster's endless shrimp! as ch as you like, y way you like! you can have your shrimp. and you can eat it, too. [ male announcer ] try our new soy wasabi grilled shrimp or classic garlic shmp scampi. all just $15.99 for a limited time. it's gonna be a hit this year. [ male announcer ] red lobster's endless shri is now! we would neveriss endless shrimp.

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no lack of issues for the news media to cover this week, from all the problems with the roll out of obama care to the conflict in the middle east the press had a full plate, with no time for distraction. except maybe for this. >> first family has adopted a second dog. her name? sunny. she is a portugese water dog. that is the same breed as the obamas' other dog, bo. >> a pair of precedential pets frolicking on the south lawn. that'll get tails wagging. >> first lady michelle obama took to instagram tweeting so excited to introduce the newest member of the obama family our puppy sunny. >> yes a new puppy or as some saw it another bright and shiny object to distract the media. the white house made this announceme and release this had video and, yes, the media